


Chance Encounters

by IzuKou



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Bullying, M/M, Oofuri Rarepair Week, not really shippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 06:28:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7703989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzuKou/pseuds/IzuKou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oofuri Rarepair Week Day 1 - AU: A chance encounter with a timid, bullied pitcher in Gunma changes Tajima’s life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chance Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Note 1: A romantic aspect of the relationship is hinted at in this story but not explicitly stated. The main focus of this is the development of their friendship.
> 
> Note 2: Haven’t written for Oofuri in 2-3 years, so I’m not feeling too confident about this. Of course, I didn’t even find out about rarepair week until about a week beforehand, so I didn’t have as much time to work on this as I would have liked.

Being dragged to another prefecture wasn’t exactly an exciting event for Tajima. An old friend of his mother and father was getting married or something. It didn’t involve baseball, and he was the only one in the family who had never met the man, so he wasn’t particularly interested. All he wanted to do was play or watch baseball, so when he heard the distinct sounds of metal bats and cheers nearby, there was no way he could have resisted finding their origin.

It turned out to be a junior high game between two schools that, as he expected, he had never heard of before. When he first arrived, the score was terribly lopsided, and it only got worse as the game progressed. 11-3 in the bottom of the 6th inning. There was no way Mihoshi Gakuen’s team was coming back from this. Then again, it didn’t exactly appear as though they were trying.

Tajima frowned. He would admit that the guy’s pitches were awfully slow and not terribly effective, but the pitcher, Mihashi, was the only player on their team that looked like he was still putting in any effort. On the other hand, his teammates were completely hanging him out to dry; the rest of the defence wasn’t even bothering to chase after simple pop-ups or easy grounders. Even if they knew they were going to lose, they still should have give it their all. No words of encouragement were exchanged either. He felt a pang of pity as Mihashi hung his head and curled in on himself slightly.

It wasn’t much longer until the game ended, and, as anyone could have expected, Mihoshi was the losing team. Five more runs had been added to the opposing team’s score in that short time, leaving the game with a final score of 16-3. It was arguably the worst and most lopsided game Tajima had ever seen. The pitcher’s effort was admirable, but, in their sport, a game can’t be won by a single player. If someone wants to win in baseball, they have to play as part of a team, a cohesive unit. There was no teamwork, no cohesive unit, on Mihoshi’s side.

It became fairly clear to Tajima how Mihashi’s teammates felt about him when he watched them leave the field. Almost as though there was an invisible barrier between them, none of other players would come within about a three-meter radius of him, instead speaking to each other in hushed whispers while glancing back at him occasionally. He felt sick just from watching it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. He sighed and made his way to exit the stands.

Tajima paused for a moment and coughed as he remembered that he never exactly told his family where he was going. When he left, the only thing he told them was that he was going to explore the area. This place wasn’t too far from where they were staying though, so they would probably figure out where he went quite easily. If they really got worried, they’d call him. That hadn’t happened yet, so he supposed that not returning just yet was still fine.

It was completely by coincidence that Tajima passed by the entrance to the locker room that Mihoshi was occupying, finding Mihashi sitting under an overhang by himself. His knees were pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around them and his face buried in them. The pitcher’s ball cap sat loosely on his mop of sandy blond hair, threatening to fully slide off and land on the ground. It had probably been nudged off when the peak hit his knees.

“Hey, you.”

The boy yelped and jolted at the sound of Tajima’s voice, his head shooting up and accidentally connecting with the concrete wall behind him. The clean-up hitter took a quick step back in shock as the other boy curled in on himself again while he rubbed the back of his head, his eyes watering slightly from the pain. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you like that! Are you okay?”

Mihashi blinked up at him owlishly and proceeded to look around before pointing to himself wordlessly in confusion, as though he wasn’t expecting someone to be talking to him.

“Yes, you,” Tajima verified with a small nod. He repeated his question, still wanting to make sure the pitcher was okay. The last thing he wanted was to cause this guy, who already had an awful day, a head injury.

“I-I’m… okay!” Mihashi assured him, clearly speaking louder than he meant to if the way he quickly covered his mouth with his hands was any indication.

“That’s good!” Tajima responded with a bright grin. However, his smile didn’t last long as Mihashi could only respond to his exclamation of relief with a small nod of his head. The tiny third baseman leaned back against the wall and propped one of his feet up behind him as a loud silence filled the area around them. “Why do your teammates treat you like that?”

Mihashi tensed slightly at the question and nervously chewed at his bottom lip.

“Th-That’s not--” He was quickly cut off by Tajima’s sharp voice.

“It’s obvious that they don’t treat you well. They didn’t help you at all out there. They can’t do that and then blame you. I play baseball, too, and that’s not how they should treat a teammate.”

More silence.

“I’m not… g-good,” Mihashi stuttered out nervously in a barely audible voice, his gaze falling to the concrete walkway beneath them. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to shrink in on himself, continuing to speak in, unbelievably, an even softer voice. “...Never win any games...”

Tajima contemplated the blond’s broken sentences for a few seconds. This kid had no confidence in himself. Although, he supposed that might be unavoidable with the combination of losing games as badly as today’s and his teammates’ treatment of him. If Tajima had to endure that all the time, he was pretty sure even his confidence would be stripped away little by little.

“Never winning isn’t an excuse for them to treat you like that. They’re just as much at fault for not giving you any help. There were plenty of hits and runs that could have been prevented if they had actually put any effort into their fielding. Even the best pitcher would lose with fielders like that.”

There was more silence between them as Mihashi couldn’t think of anything to say to discredit Tajima’s words. Although he was about to say more, the third baseman was stopped by a loud voice calling his name.

“Ah! Grandpa!” Tajima lifted his hand up in the air and waved wildly at the elderly man standing several meters away. After taking a couple of step towards his grandfather, he halted in his tracks and turned back around. He startled Mihashi once more by grabbing his left hand and pulling something out of his pocket. It turned out to be a pen, which he used to scrawl his email address on the back of the pitcher’s hand before giving him a big grin. The third baseman took off before the the blond could say anything. He twisted around to look back at Mihashi and waved to him while calling out in a loud voice, “I’m Tajima! We should talk more about baseball!”

“Y-yeah!! I’m… Mihashi!” A small smile formed on Mihashi’s face while he watched the other boy leave just as quickly as he had arrived.

 

* * *

 

Their first email exchange occurred a little less than a week later. Tajima had arrived home from an intense practice, collapsing on his bed and closing his eyes when he heard the small pinging sound that signified he had a new email waiting to be opened. He let out a small huff, half-expecting it to be spam and half-hoping it would be from the boy he had met in Gunma.

He flipped open his phone, and, when he saw the message, he let out a small yell while bolting upright in his bed. This was exactly what he had been waiting to see. His eyes sparkled with delight as he opened the message. It was only a few sentences long, but Tajima didn’t find anything wrong with that. He was far too excited to finally be getting an email from Mihashi. Of course, if anyone asked him why he was so excited to be getting an email from this kid, he’d have no real answer to give them. The pitcher interested him a lot, and Tajima felt as though the guy could really use a friend.

“ _Hello, Tajima-kun_ ,” It began. He grinned. What a simple way to start off an email. “ _Sorry for not messaging you before now. I hope I’m not bothering you at a bad time._ ”

While he was happy to finally get an email from Mihashi, his mouth twisted in displeasure at the final sentence. Bothering him? Tajima was the one who gave him his email address. If he was going to be bothered by it, he wouldn’t have given it to him. He figured it was another side effect of the way he was treated by his teammates. The teen clicked on the reply button and began rapidly typing out a response.

“ _Yo, Mihashi! What’s up? Also, don’t worry! You’re not bothering me! I want to talk to you! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧_ ” Tajima paused and read over it once more before shrugging and hitting send. Reading something like that might give the other boy a bit of a confidence boost. He hoped.

Tajima wasn’t expecting another email that night, but, to his surprise, Mihashi was actually decent at responding quickly. The two of them managed to have a fairly decent conversation about baseball, everyday life, and other things they both enjoyed, including cute girls. They continued talking into the early hours of the morning, and, as they discovered when they both ended up falling asleep in class, that was a mistake.

It became a sort of ritual for them, waking up to messages from each other in the early morning hours. Messages were occasionally sent during the day, but both of them were third year junior high students who were attempting to balance baseball and preparing for their upcoming high school entrance exams. However, when they returned home for the day, the conversations would once again begin.

As time continued to pass, Mihashi began to open up to him more. Specifically, more about the situation with his teammates. When he learned about the pitcher’s teammates threatening to break his arm, Tajima was beyond upset. Even though he wanted to help, there was nothing he could do from another prefecture. It was possible that he could visit him, but that would require telling his parents. They would want to know why, and, if he told them, they would want to get other people involved. Mihashi didn’t want that. Even though Tajima disliked it, he would respect his friend’s wishes. The only thing he could do was let time pass and hope nothing happened. He felt powerless.

That was the last thing Tajima heard about Mihashi’s teammates. He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a good sign that they weren’t causing him any problems or if Mihashi was simply reluctant to tell him about it after his previous reaction.

 

* * *

 

“ _I’m going to take the entrance exam for a high school in Saitama._ ”

A little less than a week before New Years, Tajima arrived home to find this short message sitting in his inbox. Tajima’s entire body vibrated as he read over the message again and again. His face felt like it might split in half from how widely he was grinning. Quickly hitting the reply button, his fingers shook as he excitedly typed out his response.

“ _Which school????_ ”

Tajima smashed his finger down on the send button with far more force than he should have, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He needed to know if it was near any of his choices. It was unlikely, considering the amount of high schools in Saitama, but if he was, they might actually be able to hang out in person. He bounced eagerly on the balls of his feet while waiting for his friend’s response.

A few minutes later, there was a loud ping as Mihashi’s response arrived. The clean-up hitter let out a loud yell at the sight of the single name the other had written.

“ _Nishiura._ ”

Tajima almost dropped his phone as he read over the single-word response. He could barely believe it. His top choice school, the one right next to his house, was the same one that Mihashi was trying to get into. They could see each other every day. They could be teammates and play baseball together! Just the thought made him shiver.

“ _That’s my top choice!_ ” Tajima rapidly tapped out on his phone’s tiny plastic keys. “ _I guess I might see you at the entrance exams! Let’s both do our best to make sure we can get in!_ ”

Their conversation continued on like that for a while. When Tajima asked Mihashi if there were any other schools in Saitama that he was going to try to get into, the pitcher explained that his only options were Nishiura or continuing at Mihoshi. That seemed absurdly restrictive to him, but he supposed it wasn’t his place to judge the choices of someone else’s family. The only thing he knew for certain was his excitement at potentially seeing Mihashi in person again. Of course, while he wanted February to get there quickly, he was also dreading it because of the exams. Studying had never been his forte, but he knew that Nishiura was ranked pretty high in terms of academics, so he was going to need to work hard.

 

* * *

 

Unfortunately, the duo didn’t have the chance to meet when they took Nishiura’s entrance exams. However, when they announced to each other that they got it, Tajima knew he would have plenty of time to see Mihashi, the person who had become such an important part of his life over the past several months, in person for the next three years. They would get to play baseball together and have fun doing it. He would make sure that Mihashi didn’t have a repeat of junior high. No one would bully him on Tajima’s watch.

Around a month later, the long-awaited first day arrived. The night before, the two promised to meet up at the school’s front gate in the morning to check their class assignments together. Unsurprisingly, Tajima was the first to arrive. The moment he spotted Mihashi’s unmistakeable mop of blond hair, he made a beeline for him. He cried out the boy’s name and launched himself at the poor, unsuspecting pitcher, causing him to topple over sideways.

“T-Tajima-kun!” Mihashi exclaimed with a slight stutter as the other teen removed himself. As soon as he got back to his feet, the timid boy dusted himself off before picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He nervously glanced up at Tajima. “D-Do you wanna… go look at the c-class assignments?”

“Yeah, let’s go!!” The third baseman agreed with a wide, toothy grin. He snagged Mihashi’s hand and took off toward the bulletin board that was decorated with the class listings. The speedy athlete made sure to keep himself at a slower pace so the other baseball player could keep up.

When they arrived at the board, both teens were shocked by the massive size of it. The number of classes alone was amazing. They decided to split their search between them. Mihashi would look through the first five classes in their year while Tajima would skim over the names in the others.

“Ah! I’m in class nine!” Tajima exclaimed after finally locating his name. A few seconds later, the kanji of Mihashi’s name also entered his field of vision. “You are, too!!”

“Really?” Mihashi’s face lit up at those words, turning his gaze to class nine’s roster. As he found his name hidden amongst the dozens of other students’, he turned to his new classmate, his lips wobbling a bit before curving into a smile.

Tajima’s heart thumped harshly in his chest at the sight. An abnormal rush of adrenaline flowed through him, and his face began to rapidly heat, making him duck his head in order to hide the pink flush in his cheeks. He was confused about the giddiness he felt, but he couldn’t exactly label it as something bad.

 

* * *

 

The first few days passed rather uneventfully for both of them, and the first day of club activities quickly arrived. Mihashi had been fidgety through the entire day, and when the final class had been dismissed, he looked like he was ready to bolt, and not in the direction of the field. Before he had the chance to escape, Tajima took his classmate’s right hand into his own, causing the blond to stop and look back. The third baseman pressed their foreheads together.

“It’ll be fine,” he told the pitcher confidently. They stared at each other wordlessly before Mihashi gave a short nod.

“Yeah…”

It was a simple thing, but it managed to settle the timid teen down a bit. That was what was most important. Any sort of reassurance he could give to his friend was good for his confidence, he had discovered.

“Well? Wanna go meet our teammates?”

Tajima was about to release the blond’s hand, but he winced as Mihashi’s grip suddenly tightened. Leave it to a pitcher to have such a strong grip. He knew the other teen wasn’t even using his full strength, but it was still a bit painful.

Tajima grinned through it as they both spoke at the same time, a mixture of nervousness and excitement leaking into their voices.

“Let’s go!”

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if there are any mistakes!


End file.
